Refrigerator-car



UNITED STA-@ras 'Pn-TENT Erica,

WILLIAM E. EASTMAN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

1 REFRIG'I-:QRATORY-C'AR'.

sPEcIrrcATIoN forming part of Letters Patent No.' 502,661, dated August 1, 1893.

Application filed August 22, 1892.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. EASTMAN, a citizen of the United States, lresiding at Bos-I ton, in the county of Suffolk and State 'of Mas-l sachusetts, have invented a new and useful., Improvement in Refrigerator-Cars, of which;-v the following is a specification.l

My invention relates tov an improvement in'v the mechanism of a refrigerator-car involving the general construction of cold-producing means and principle of operation in refriger-` ation set forth in Letters Patent of the United` States lo-169,296, granted me on the 23d dayv of February, 1892. Reference to the aforesaid patent will show a car, suitably insulatedas to its walls, floor, roof and interior partitions and containing a storage-chamber for the material (perishable merchandise) to be maintained cold and an ice storage-chamber communicating'withthe merchandise storage-chamber through-the upper part lof the partition separating the two and with the base of the ice storage-chamber through a flue extending longitudinally along the base of the car from the ice-chamberv to or about to the center of the merchandise storage-chamber. A purpose of the flue feature, in leading the air cooled and moistureladen by contact with the ice in passing through the ice-chamber on its Way to the adjacent end of the flue, is to subject the air to the higher temperature surrounding the flue and, by the ensuingl expansion of the air in its route without accretion'of moisture thereto, lessening the proportion of moisture it carries to the volume of the air. As putrefaction of such matter as that contained in the merchandise storage-chamber is caused by the combined iniiuence of air, heat andv moisture, reduction of the proportion of either or any two of these excitant elements to decomposition (in thepresent instance of theY heat and moisture) accordingly reduces the ktendency to decomposition'.

The feature of rarefying the moisture-laden cooled air inthe aforesaid patent may be providedfor otherwisethan byforcingit through the conduit referred to, which involves the constructionof an addition on-'the bottom of the car which it is desirable to dispense with. My object' is to provide other and simpler means for that purpose, and this I accomplish sulla Nol Mates. uro matti byproviding a cou-rse or conduit in the base of the ice-chamber opening directly into the merchandise storage-compartment and formed ofthe desired length preferably by a series of alternating' partitions, as hereinafter described.-

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a View in cross-sectional elevation of the refrigerator-car provided with my improvement,

the section being taken at the line 1 on Fig. 2 and.viewed in thefdirection indicated by the arrow, and Fig.v2 is a section taken at the line 2 on Fig.1 and viewed as indicated by the arrow.

A is the'car, which may be constructed in allrespects like, orY substantially like that described in the aforesaid patent, except as to the air-conduit detail; laudit therefore involves ythe insulated walls r, iiool` 1 and roof p, the merchandise storage-chamberpand an ice-chamber O communicating with thechamber B through an openingoin the upper'portion of the"partition D,--inwhichv maybe a door D. In Vthe chamber O is supported an ice-rack E, which may containV a door E', coinciding with the partition-door D', toY permit access to the ice from the chamber B.v Below the ice-rack E inthe base of -the chamber .O are shelves F, formed preferably of insulating material,` such asfwood, extending from the lining (as'zinc) )t at one side ofthe car toward, but short of the wall atthe opposite side of the ice-chamber; and with these alternate similar shelves Fteirtending from the opposite side of the car. These shelves should extend the full length of the VchamberO (in the direction lengthwisey of the car) and may incline, as shown, for a purpose hereinafter described; andwhere they `join the partition D, I prefer to cut, above each,'"a portion of the .partition-lining n away, as representedat a', main. Fig. l, so that when-the door'D is opened, access may be had through the lopen- "in'g thus 'aiforded forfcleaningthe Shelves.

As shown, the second from the top of theseries of shelves is turned up or flanged at its outer end, as at o," to, prevent oscillationn of the car from throwing off'it water that 'may drip thereon from the ice and for'the escape of which a drip-pipe m is provided. *Below the lowermost shelf F in the base of the partition D, (though it might be below the latter) IOC ber C herein described. As will be seen, the i air which enters the ice-chamber from the chamber B through the opening o, passes' through the ice-supply in the rack E, thereby being rendered cold and taking up moisture.

From the ice the air traverses the course loetween the shelves F, F', elongated by its circuitous or zlg-zag c0nstruction,which may be of any desired length according to the number of shelves employed. Owing to the higher temperature of the chamber C in its base porl tion than in its ice-supply, the air in passing to the outlet G along the circuitous flue afforded by the shelves, expands, thereby increasing in Volume without, however, increasing the amount of moisture with which it is laden. Hence when the air enters the chamber B it affords a refrigerant, being still quite cold, carrying but little moisture in proportion to its volume, which is the object to be accomplished.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a refrigerator-oar, the combination With the interoommunicatng merchandise and ice-storage-chambers of a circuitous air flue in the ice storage-chamber having its two or more contrarily directed turns located below the plane of the ice-supply and leading into the base of the merchandise storagechamber, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a refrigerator-car, the combination With the merchandise and ice storage-chambers B and C communcatingthrough an opening o and separated by a partition D, of a circuitous air iiue in the base of the chamber C formed with the alternating, oppositely inclining shelves F, F all located below `the ice supply, a drip pi pe m leading from the upper end of the uppermost shelf F', and an outlet G in `the base of the partition, through which the iiue opens into the chamber B, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

WILLIAM E. EAS'IMAN.

J. W. DYRENFORTH, M. E. WINN. 

